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Month: February 2022

  • The Importance of the Employee ‘Deal’

    18 February 2022 by Mark Sterling

    This blog was contributed by Professor Mark Sterling, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (Staffing) and Beale Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham. There has been much debate of late over academic careers and even the rewards associated with them. Whichever side of the debate you land on, we can probably all…

  • What’s next for national security and research?

    17 February 2022 by Alexis Brown

    A new HEPI report, What’s next for national security and research? by Dr Alexis Brown (HEPI Report 147), reviews what measures are in place to protect UK research from foreign interference, including the new National Security and Investment Act (2021) that came into force on 4 January 2022.  It argues that, while…

  • Book Review: Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A Practical Guide for FE and HE Settings by Sharon Mallon and Jo Smith (eds.) (London, 2022)

    16 February 2022 by Laura Brassington

    HEPI’s Policy Manager, Dr Laura Brassington, reviews Sharon Mallon and Jo Smith (eds.). 2022. Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A Practical Guide for FE and HE Settings. With a foreword by Rosie Tressler, OBE. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78775-418-8. 400pp. £40.00.  The publication of Preventing and Responding to Student Suicide: A…

  • Changing Fees, Changing Lives?

    15 February 2022 by John Cater

    This blog was contributed by Dr John Cater, Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University. Throughout the past decade, and to some extent for the 15 years that preceded it, politicians, the media, families, graduates and aspiring graduates have obsessed about student tuition fees and maintenance grants and loans. And for good…

  • What influences the geographical mobility behaviour of university graduates?

    14 February 2022 by Kostas Kollydas

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Kostas Kollydas, Research Fellow at City-REDI/ WMREDI, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham (@KKollydas, @WMREDI). Introduction University graduates comprise a special subgroup of the workforce, as they accumulate high levels of human capital and can improve a region’s skills base. They can make a positive impact on…

  • The Importance of a Differentiated Sector

    11 February 2022 by Saskia Loer Hansen and David Phoenix

    This blog was kindly contributed by Saskia Loer Hansen, Interim Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University, and Professor David Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University and Chief Executive of LSBU Group. While it was a disappointment that higher education funding was left out of the autumn budget, it was…

  • Universities, Research, Development and Innovation and the Levelling Up White Paper

    10 February 2022 by Giles Carden

    This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Giles Carden, Chief of Staff at Lancaster University. The Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper was finally launched on 2 February 2022. It sets out a complete ‘system change’ of government working, with the aim of levelling up the UK. Central to the new…

  • Drowning in data? Is there a ‘tyranny of metrics’ in education?

    9 February 2022 by Nick Hillman

    This post by HEPI Director Nick Hillman: considers the arguments for and against the use of big data in higher education; looks at the reasons behind the growing use of metrics; and ends with a discussion on the increasing demands to contexualise metrics before using them for important decisions. The…